A pea-sized ball of light shot forth from his fingertip before disappearing into the cage in a flash.
In the next instant, azure light erupted from a corner of the cage, following which the small purple beast reappeared. At the same time, it bent its four limbs slightly to absorb the impact before landing on the ground in a soundless manner like a ball of cotton.
Thus, the small beast was finally revealed to everyone as a purple beast that resembled a fox.
The beast's body was only around half an inch in size, and its eyes were darting around incessantly. Those eyes were no different from that of highly intelligent beings, thereby indicating that it had already attained a good level of intelligence.
The only thing that set this beast apart from a normal spirit fox would be the faint silver scales that could be seen on its nose and ears. However, these patches of scales were only the size of fingernails, and it was really difficult to see them unless one was paying particularly close attention.
"Is this really a spirit beast that's inherited the bloodline of the Human-faced Wyrm? It looks no different from a normal fox beast," someone exclaimed in a disappointed manner.
Many of the other beings present were also appraising the small beast with furrowed brows, unable to identify how it was supposed to be special in any way.
"A normal fox beast? I'd advise all of you to take a closer look, Fellow Daoists."A sinister look suddenly appeared on the elderly man's benevolent face, and he abruptly thrust a palm toward the black cage from afar.
A resounding boom erupted from within the cage, following which white lightning flashed, and a layer of white electricity appeared.
A string of loud thunderclaps then rang out as countless thin arcs of lightning transformed into sharp blades that hurtled directly toward the small beast in the cage.
An extremely humanized expression of alarm and fury appeared on the small beast's face upon seeing this, and it let loose a low snarl as purple light swirled over its body. All of a sudden, a projection surfaced above it, shielding its body within.
This was the projection of a faint silver wyrm.
The wyrm projection was extremely blurry and indistinct, making the onlooker only barely able to identify it as a wyrm, but all of the blades of lightning disappeared like sandcastles in the tide after striking the projection.
After absorbing so much lightning, the wyrm projection had swelled to several times its original size, almost filling up the entire cage as it raised its head to let loose an enraged roar.
All of a sudden, the cage began to screech and groan as if it were to struggling to hold itself together.
All of the beings present drew a sharp breath in unison upon seeing this.
Just a projection conjured up by this purple beast in its infantile stage was this powerful; it was indeed displaying astonishing potential.
At the sight of the astonishment etched on everyone's faces, the elderly man knew that he had achieved the intended effect, and he chuckled as he raised a hand up into the air.
Brilliant golden and silver light erupted, and the thin chains appeared again before hurtling toward the cage to bind the small beast.
The chains were somehow able to completely disregard the wyrm projection and wound themselves tightly around the purple fox's body, rendering all of its struggles completely futile.
Immediately thereafter, the silver wyrm projection that it had conjured up vanished, and the black cage settled again.
Xiao Buyi knew the importance of striking while the metal was hot, so before everyone could recover from their shock, he immediately announced, "I'm sure all of you have witnessed this beast's powers and no longer have any doubts about its capabilities. This starting price for this mystical beast will be 80,000,000 spirit stones; let the bidding begin!"
"85,000,000!"
"90,000,000!"
…
As expected, after witnessing the beast's powers, a series of astonishing bids were made, and within mere moments, the price had been bid up to over 100,000,000 spirit stones.
However, Han Li merely sat on the spot and didn't participate in the bidding.
This beast did indeed possess brilliant potential, but it would definitely take a long time to nurture. He already had his Weeping Soul Beast, Leopard Kirin Beast, and his Gold Devouring Beetles, so another spirit beast would most likely be superfluous to his requirements.
On top of that, even if he were tempted to bid for the beast, he simply didn't have enough spirit stones to participate in the bidding anyway.
At this point, even the holy race beings on the upper level were beginning to participate in the bidding. As such, even if he hadn't purchased the Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid earlier, the chances of him securing the beast now were extremely slim.
However, at this moment, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face as he appraised the silver fox in the cage.
Perhaps it was simply a figment of his imagination, but the appearance and demeanor of the bound purple beast somehow struck him with a sense of familiarity. In his eyes, the small beast bore a strong resemblance to Silvermoon.
Even though Silvermoon's true form was a silver wolf, she had also possessed a spirit fox in the human world, so it wasn't particularly strange that there was a certain level of resemblance between the two.
Even though he was well aware of this, he still couldn't help but feel slightly saddened at the sight of the pitiable purple fox that was bound in the cage.
Back when Silvermoon had left him, he certainly hadn't failed to notice the emotions hidden deep within her eyes prior to her departure.
However, at his pitiful cultivation base at the time, he couldn't do anything aside from look on as she returned to the Spirit Realm.
Perhaps it was due to the fact that Han Li's expression was different from those of the other foreign beings in the auction, but the immobilized purple fox seemed to have taken notice of him and suddenly turned its gaze toward him. As soon as their eyes met, it blinked its intelligent eyes, and a hint of confusion intermingled with elation suddenly appeared on its face.
The changes in the purple fox's expression were extremely minute, but they certainly couldn't escape the notice of Han Li's spirit eye ability.
As such, he immediately faltered slightly, and a hint of befuddlement welled up in his heart.
"130,000,000!" An astonishing bid was made by the owner of an elderly voice on the upper level, and the entire auction hall finally fell completely silent.
It seemed that no one was able to outdo that astronomical bid.
"130,000,000 going once!"
"130,000,000 going twice!"
""… going thrice!
Xiao Buyi was clearly also of the opinion that no one else would be able to place a higher bid, so after completing a quick count of three, he turned to the upper level with a smile, and said, "Congratulations, Brother Lu! With this mystical beast by your side, I'm sure you'll become even more formidable."
It seemed that he recognized the final bidder.
"Hehe, I didn't think that you'd still recognize my voice after we've been apart for so many years, Fellow Daoist Xiao," the final bidder chuckled in response.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of light suddenly flashed from a stone cabin near the back of the upper level, following which a ball of yellow light flew forth from within before landing on the stage in the flash.
Han Li's eyes narrowed as he looked on from his seat, and he discovered that this was an elderly man with yellow skin wearing a set of brocade robes.
The man had a head of curly hair, and had quite a burly and intimidating stature that was almost two feet taller than Xiao Buyi.
A hint of wariness flashed through Xiao Buyi's eyes a the sight of the elderly man, but he still said in a respectful manner, "I suggest that it would be best for you to knock this beast unconscious before you take it. Otherwise, it could be a little troublesome to control."
"Are you afraid that I won't be able to control a mere infantile beast? Don't worry, just tally up the spirit stones, and I'll be taking this spirit beast as is. You can get rid of the cage now, Fellow Daoist Lan." The brocade-robed man seemed to be very confident in his own abilities, and he casually tossed a bag of spirit stones at Xiao Buyi before turning to the bearded elderly man.
"Hehe, if you say so, Brother Lu; I'll be removing the restriction now." The elderly man nodded before slowly raising a hand as he prepared to make a grabbing motion toward the cage.
The small purple beast in the cage seemed to be aware that something bad was about to happen upon seeing this, and all of its fur stood up on end as it let loose a sharp screech.
As soon as this piercing screech rang out, the beings of lower cultivation bases present were struck by a ringing sensation in their heads, following which the magic power within their bodies became stagnant and disobedient.
These beings were naturally stunned by this turn of events.
However, for a Spatial Tempering Stage being like Han Li, the effects of this screech were naturally quite negligible. As for the elderly man, his expression didn't even change in the slightest as azure light flashed from his fingertips.
Meanwhile, the brocade-robed man had made quite a confident and bold declaration earlier, but he didn't actually dare to get too complacent. His eyes were fixed intently on the small beast as he readied himself to restrict it as soon as the elderly man withdrew the cage.
All of the other beings in the auction house also had their eyes fixed firmly on the stage.
At the sight of the purple fox's alarmed expression, a thought suddenly seemed to have occurred to Han Li, and his eyelids abruptly twitched as a dull crack rang out.
His hand was resting on the armrest of his chair, but he had abruptly clenched his fingers and crushed the jade armrest into dust.
Right at this moment, a startling turn of events abruptly unfolded!
An earthshattering boom erupted from outside the auction hall, following which the massive gates that were flashing with spiritual light suddenly exploded into countless shattered fragments.
The entire auction hall fell deathly silent as expressions of astonishment appeared on everyone's faces.
This was the Four Races Auction; who would dare to do something so brazen and reckless here?
However, the entire auction hall then immediately erupted into a frenzy as countless voices rang out at once.
"Argh, what happened?"
"What's going on?"
"Guards! Guards!"
…
Due to the fact that the restriction on the gates had been broken, there were spiritual lights flashing erratically at the entrance, making it impossible for everyone to see who the intruder was.
Xiao Buyi was also quite stunned by this sudden development, but as a Body Integration Stage being, he was able to quickly recompose himself as he yelled, "There's no need to panic! With our four races hosting this auction, no one can wreak havoc here without consequences!"
His voice was like a loud thunderclap that instantly instilled a sense of clarity into everyone's minds.
He was right. Setting aside all of the guards that had been deployed to the auction house, with so many upper race and holy race beings here, no one could possibly expect to barge in and not suffer the consequences of their actions.
"The four races, eh? You sure do dare to talk! Do you really think I wouldn't dare to kill all of you here?" A thunderous male voice sounded from outside the shattered gates.
Xiao Buyi's heart sank upon hearing this bold declaration, but his expression remained calm as he asked, "Who are you and how dare you wreak havoc in our Cloud City?"
"Is your Cloud City some kind of lethal realm? Why wouldn't I dare to wreak havoc here?" The sound of footsteps rang out from outside the auction hall, following which a humanoid figure slowly strode in.
